Ski brakes of the above-mentioned type are known. For example, DE-OS 3 145 646 (Marker) describes a ski brake in which an essentially U-shaped braking lever is provided, which together with a pedal (stepping plate) and a connecting piece, on which a spring engages, forms a lever system which upon pivoting of the braking lever out of the braking position into the skiing position is pressured down against the force of the spring. In order to permit a complete pressing down, the braking lever is supported longitudinally movably on the stepping plate. Furthermore, essentially vertical guide surfaces, which are inclined below the stepping plate with respect to the central longitudinal plane, are provided to keep the braking levers pressed in direction of the center of the ski in the skiing position.
A ski brake has furthermore become known from DE-PS 3 110 743 (Marker), which in contrast to the above-described brake (DE-OS 3 145 646), not the braking lever but the connecting piece is supported movably in longitudinal direction on the stepping plate in order to enable a complete pressing down of the lever system.
A disadvantage of the two above-described ski brakes is among others that the spring engages very low at the connecting piece so that a relatively strong spring force is needed in order to produce the desired initial tension.
DE-PS 2 462 391 (Salomon) discloses a still further ski brake of the above-mentioned type wherein the connecting piece is a pressure bar which is resiliently designed and is pivotally supported on the base plate. This connecting piece and an essentially U-shaped braking lever are supported pivotally spaced from one other about a transverse axis fixed relative to the stepping plate on said stepping plate. Upon pivoting the braking lever from the braking position into the skiing position, the U-shaped braking lever is in this conventional ski brake stretched in longitudinal direction over a ski-fixed abutment such that the ends of the braking lever are pressed in their end position in direction of the center of the ski.
A disadvantage of this conventional ski brake is that the pressure bar and its bearing points are subjected to a high material stress and are therefore susceptible to wear. The ski brake furthermore is not loaded with a specific initial tension in its braking position so that it unfortunately does not assume a particularly stable position in this position.
A deficiency of all of the above-mentioned ski brakes is that the spring engages the braking levers through the lever system consisting of a connection piece--stepping plate so that the transfer of the spring force onto these braking levers can indeed be realized with a small number of structural part, however, is kinematically disadvantageous since the resulting force acting onto each braking lever is composed of a component normally to and a component parallel to the braking lever. The force responsible for the pivoting movement of the braking levers is, however, only the normal component so that kinematically caused losses of forces occur in an undesired manner in these conventional ski brakes.
AT-PS 389 819 discloses a ski brake in which the spring-loaded stepping plate is hinged directly to the base plate and not through a connecting piece, and the ends of the braking levers engaging the stepping plate are connected elastically with one another through a spring. The braking levers are each supported on the base plate through a cross bore which is enlarged outwardly in order to reduce the danger of ice formation at this bearing point. Such a ski binding can be realized in an advantageous manner with few structural parts, however, it has among others the disadvantage that the stepping plate cannot assume the desired, essentially horizontal position in the braking position and during the pivoting movement into the skiing position.